Celebrities heading to the prestigious Met Gala event found more to look at than fashion.
They found themselves face-to-face with climate protesters demanding higher taxes on the wealthy. The Monday evening protests led to the arrest of 15 demonstrators who disrupted traffic in Manhattan and blocked the motorcades of stars, including Paris Hilton.
Seizing the opportunity provided by the high-profile event, a group of protesters, some armed with pitchforks, aimed to raise awareness about the role of the top 1% in worsening the climate crisis, while advocating for increased taxes on the wealthy. A protester from Reclaim Our Tomorrow, who was later arrested, explained that they intentionally obstructed the celebrities’ motorcades to redirect the world’s focus from the extravagance of the Met Gala to the impending climate catastrophe.
Critics of the Met Gala pointed out the reported ticket prices of $50,000 per person and $450,000 per table, slamming the event as an ostentatious display of luxury while ordinary people struggle financially. The persistence of income inequality further emphasizes the disproportionate impact that the super-rich have on global warming.
Recent findings from Oxfam reveal that the wealthiest 1% contribute more than twice the amount of climate-heating pollution compared to the poorest 50%, and billionaires produce a million times more pollution than the average person.
Alice Hu, Senior Climate Campaigner at New York Communities for Change (NYCFC), explained the motivation behind the protest, emphasizing the devastating consequences caused by the top 1% on the climate. Hu highlighted the irony of the ultra-wealthy indulging in extravagant luxuries and profiting from fossil fuel investments while essentially condemning the rest of the population to suffer extreme weather conditions and global food scarcity. Hu stressed the urgent need for political leaders to implement targeted taxes on the affluent to fund solutions for tackling the climate crisis.
Recently, climate activists in the United States have targeted various elite gatherings and institutions. They used the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday, April 29, to draw attention to the Biden administration’s approval of new fossil fuel projects on public lands.
